With August hot enough to be irritating, editors at two magazines have pandered to our dreams of places cooler and more pleasant. Both Outside and Money have hit newsstands with a look at the best places to live.
Much like the July 16 editorial on how a tiny island off Denmark accomplished a huge wind power project, this piece isn’t intended to simply point out places considered better than us.
Jasper could never have made either of these lists, because both focus on larger cities, with Money looking at small population burghs of say 50,000 inhabitants. They picked Plymouth, Minnesota. Outside gave emphasis to “revival” cities, picking Washington D.C. as top dog and Chattanooga as second fiddle.
But hoping to jog a few mental gears in Pickens County, here are points to consider on why other cities are considered great:
• Safety – You don’t get to be a great place if people don’t feel safe inside your city limits. There may be some drug issues in our own community, but violent crime is extremely rare.
• Excellent schools – Pickens schools usually out-perform those in neighboring, similarly-sized counties. But for Money magazine’s list, they looked at state rankings and awards, which Pickens can’t boast.
• Scenic Beauty/Greenspace – Every city on both the Money and Outside lists either had extensive parks or a large amount of protected open spaces. Pickens has neither. Chattanooga tackled this problem in a large way by investing $120 million in re-developing its riverfront and on the small end with a “take root” project that recruited residents to plant 2,000 trees that created urban forests.
God took care of Plymouth, Minnesota’s natural attractions by putting seven lakes around the town. (Of course, He evened the score with frigid winters.) Fort Collins, CO, another top contender, took matters into its own city hands and created 25 miles of biking, hiking, jogging and stroller-pushing trails that link everything from shopping areas to playgrounds to subdivisions.
• Vibrant Downtowns - Both magazines gave high marks to places with “vibrant,” walkable, downtowns. Jasper has the infrastructure for being walkable (downtown only). And our downtown has the potential to perk lively with an influx of new restaurants, plus the city’s Main Street Mania events and the merchants’ cruise-ins. But at this point, its hard to say when downtown will be bustling or deserted. We’d say the town has done its share. It’s up to residents as to how vibrant we get.
• Strong locally-based economy – All the great towns not only had plenty of high-paying jobs but had those jobs close by. The list-makers identified long commutes as a major obstacle to creating a great community. Commutes, they found, go hand-in-hand with sprawl-induced suburbs.
Unfortunately, as we see with the present real-estate slowdown, Pickens’ economy continues to rest on home building. In this jobs category, our county, city and free market haven’t offered much to be satisfied with.
Several cities on the list got lucky breaks with one major industry creating growth throughout their area. Round Rock, TX, it was noted, went from sleepy to hot solely because Dell Computer located its corporate headquarters there.
• One Special Attribute - Finally, there seemed to be one special perk each great city offered, and it was something tangible, not the vague “great people,” “friendly atmosphere” clichés tossed around at planning meetings.
Some had natural advantages framed in lakes, rivers and mountains. Others, like Overland, KS, built a nationally-recognized soccer park to create its own advantages both for local cash registers and for residents through enhanced recreational opportunities. Other outstanding features included arts programs; swim parks; preserved historic areas. Pickens has a smattering of these but nothing with bona fide state or national appeal––at least for now.
There’s nothing much wrong with our town or county. But we always see room for improvement. Anyone interested in planning our future should start by evaluating what works in other places to find what might be feasible here. |
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